News

Iron rule

Feeling low? You could be anaemic  and beans are part of the cure, says Amanda Ursell

If you are experiencing a bad case of the blues, before heading for the therapist’s couch, you could do worse than have your iron levels checked. Recent research indicates that

women today are getting less iron than previous generations, perhaps as a consequence of avoiding seemingly unhealthy foods such as red meat and eggs.

John Beard, professor of nutrition at Pennsylvania State University, has studied the link between brain health and iron, and suggests that there is a strong correlation between low iron intake and depression.

“The reason appears to be that any iron we consume is first being nabbed for other purposes, like making haemoglobin, which carries oxygen to cells. The brain, waiting its turn for the ‘leftovers’, misses out if intakes are below par,” he says.

The danger is that someone might present themselves to their GP with symptoms of depression and end up with a prescription for